Student Atlas of World Politics

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The Student Atlasseries combiness full-color maps and data sets to introduce students to the importance of the connections between geography and other areas of study such as world politics, environmental issues, and economic development. These thematic atlases will give students a clear picture of the recent agricultural, industrial, demographic, environmental, economic, and political changes in every world region.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Student iii

What’s New in This Edition v

About the Authors vi

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction: How to Read an Atlas xi

Unit I The Contemporary World 1

Map 1 World Political Boundaries 2

Map 2 World Physical Features 4

Map 3 World Climate Regions 6

Map 4 Vegetation Types 7

Map 5 Soil Orders 8

Map 6 World Topography 9

Map 7 Plate Tectonics 10

Map 8 World Ecological Regions 11

Map 9 World Natural Hazards 12

Map 10 Land Use Patterns of the World 13

Map 11 Urbanization 14

Map 12 Transportation Patterns 15

Map 13 World Population Density 16

Map 14 World Religions 17

Map 15 World Languages 18

Map 16 World Migrations in Modern Times 19

Unit II States: The Geography of Politics and Political Systems 21

Map 17 Political Boundary Types 23

Map 18 Political Systems 25

Map 19 The Emergence of the State 26

Map 20 Organized States and Chiefdoms, A.D. 1500 27

Map 21 European Colonialism, 1500–2000 28

Map 22 Federal and Unitary States 29

Map 23 Sovereign States: Duration of Independence 30

Map 24 The United Nations 31

Map 25 United Nations Regions and Sub-Regions 32

Map 26 Is It a Country? 33

Map 27 Political Realms: Regional Changes, 1945–2003 34

Map 28 European Boundaries, 1914–1949 35

Map 29 An Age of Bipolarity: The Cold War ca. 1970 37

Map 30 Europe: Political Changes, 1989–2012 38

Map 31 The European Union, 2011 39

Map 32 The Geopolitical World at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century 40

Map 33 Democracy on the Rise 41

Map 34 The Middle East: Territorial Changes, 1918–Present 42

Map 35 Africa: Colonialism to Independence 43

Map 36 South Africa: Black Homelands and Post-Apartheid Provinces 44

Map 37 Asia: Colonialism to Independence, 1930–2007 45

Map 38 Global Distribution of Minority Groups 46

Map 39 Linguistic Diversity 47

Map 40 International Conflicts in the Post-World War II World 48

Map 41 World Refugees: Country of Origin 50

Map 42 World Refugees: Host Country 51

Map 43 Internally Displaced Persons 52

Map 44 Post-Cold War International Alliances 53

Map 45 The Political Geography of a Global Religion: The Islamic World 54

Map 46 Countries with Nuclear Weapons 55

Map 47 Size of Armed Forces 56

Map 48 Military Expenditures as a Percentage of Gross National Product 57